Confection articles such as lentils, solid balls and eggs, coffee beans and confection almonds can be produced by using a pair of counter rotating rollers having engravings or cavities on their cylindrical surface. The shape of the article to be produced is engraved between the two rollers.
The two rollers are positioned parallel to each other and substantially abutting one another. Liquid tempered chocolate or other fat-based mass is dosed into the nip of rollers. The nip is the point where the surfaces of the rollers are closest to each other. The liquid tempered chocolate is then cooled and shaped between the rollers. The rollers, usually produced from stainless steel, are cooled to a low temperature by means of a cooling medium which flows through them. When passing through the roller nip the liquid chocolate takes the shape of the roller surfaces and a continuous band of shaped chocolate articles joined by a thin web of chocolate is formed. The band is further cooled, the shaped chocolate articles are separated, and the web material is removed. Subsequently, the shaped chocolate articles can be polished, panned, for example, with a sugar coating or wrapped. An example of the above-described rollers is "Eriksen Rollers" sold by Aasted, Denmark.
The rotation speed of the rollers is limited by the solidification rate of the chocolate between the two rollers. Thus, the capacity of the rollers depends on the cooling capacity of the rollers in the nip. If the chocolate is not sufficiently solidified, the chocolate will tend to stick to the surface of the roller and there is a risk that the band of shaped articles joined by the thin web will tear. In addition, if the centers of the chocolate articles are not sufficiently solidified, the article may be damaged or deformed by contact with a takeoff conveyor or collection hopper. Thus improvements in this process would be desirable.